Capcom's global research and development operations are going to have a new face (or several) now that 23-year company veteran and Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune has announced that he'll be leaving at the end of the month. Infune has voiced a great deal of excitement this year over projects ranging from "Mega Man Legends 3" on the Nintendo 3DS and "Mega Man Universe" to "Dead Rising 2" and his "Zombrex Dead Rising Sun" serial. He wants new challenges, however, and that real-life quest has move him to look beyond Capcom.

"I'm leaving Capcom with the intention of starting my life over," Inafune wrote in a blog entry, according to a translation over on Kotaku.

The post did not elaborate on where Inafune intends to go next, but the Kotaku report says that he doesn't plan on taking a break. In the meantime, Capcom has begun reshuffling its management structure and though they haven't named an explicit replacement for Inafune as "Head of R&D Management Group, Consumer Games R&D Division and Contents Management Division," they have spread his responsibilities around.

"Managing corporate officer Katsuhiko Ichii will be appointed head of our development organisation, backed by a market-oriented development organisation that integrates our marketing and development functions," a Capcom representative told GamesIndustry.biz. Other new roles within the company's development management team were also named.

Whether or not "Dead Rising 2" sales had a direct impact on all of these changes hasn't been established. Right now, Inafune's framing his decision as a personal quest, but it's going to be sad to see "Mega Man Universe" proceed without him, given his enthusiasm for it just a couple of months ago.

Does Inafune's announcement come as a shocker for you? What do you think it will mean for Mega Man? Share your opinions with us in the comment section below.